Police have named the man found dead in a house in Kirkwall's Queen Sonja Kloss on Thursday afternoon.

The deceased man has been identified as Ian Thomas Yule, aged 34.

Police inquiries are continuing.

It was one game each this afternoon, as Orkney's netballers took on Shetland in their annual inter-county fixtures.

Orkney's 'B' team won their game 29-26, while in the 'A' match Shetland triumphed 25-22.

Both games were played at the Clickimin Centre in Lerwick.

Orkney MSP, Jim Wallace has queried Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment and Rural Development, on how access to the Rural Stewardship Scheme could be made easier for farmers - particularly those with small farms.

Mr Wallace said: “Orkney farmers have a good long-term record of care for the environment. With farm support increasingly being related to good environmental practices, it is important that the rules governing support schemes, such as the rural stewardship scheme, do have the effect of targeting the most of the funding at the larger estates and farms at the expense of the smaller farms.”

Radio Scotland is appealing to folk in Orkney to check the attic for any old audio recordings.

The BBC is planning a series of programmes using private recordings and would like to hear from anyone with possible material.

The recordings, and the stories that go with them, will be broadcast later this year.

Reacting to the news that Caledonian MacBrayne (Calmac) is the preferred bidder for the new Northern Isles ferry contract, Jim Wallace has called for an early start to discussions with Orkney livestock stakeholders and for staff to be kept fully informed of the handling of the transfer.

A Highlands and Islands MSP has hit out at the Scottish Executive’s handling of the tendering process for the Northern Isles ferry contract.

Describing the tender handling as "poor from the start", Jamie McGrigor MSP added: “I just hope the Executive have learnt from the mistakes of the past and have ensured CalMac are fully aware of all the obligations of maintaining these lifeline services for Orkney and Shetland.

A wave energy machine being tested at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Stromness is to be upgraded to enhance its potential to generate electricity on a commercial scale.

The planned upgrade will see the Pelamis wave energy converter towed to Leith in Edinburgh, where modifications will be made in a dry dock.

Police inquiries into the death of a 34-year-old man in Kirkwall are ongoing.

The man, who has not been named, was found by police and ambulance personnel at a house in Queen Sonja Kloss at 4pm on Thursday.

A scene of crime officer was due to travel north from Inverness, as is standard in the case of the death of a younger person. A post mortem is being carried out and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

An emergency exercise was due to take place on the NorthLink vessel Hjaltland at Aberdeen Harbour on Friday morning.

Speaking beforehand, a NorthLink spokesman said: “The exercise will be accompanied by a significant amount of smoke and a fair amount of activity. We were keen to make an announcement in advance of the exercise in case passers-by became alarmed.”

Caledonian MacBrayne has been named as the preferred bidder for the ferry services contract to Orkney and Shetland.

Among the improvements announced by Transport Minister Tavish Scott on Thursday are reduced freight tariffs (19 per cent for Orkney) and the inclusion of livestock in the contract.

Mr Scott said: “There will now be an intense final period of contract negotiation before the official handover. The six year contract will introduce real benefits for local people and businesses, helping the economies of the Northern Isles.”

The Royal Navy has denied that they are behind a costly air and sea search - initiated by the sighting of several red flares off Orkney on Monday night.

A military exercise is currently ongoing in Scottish waters involving three US ships on a coalition course with vessels from the UK, Germany and Denmark.

While a Royal Navy spokesman admitted that there are warships on exercise in waters off Orkney, they stressed that the search had not been as a result of their plans.

Expressing his delight at being promoted to Shadow Transport Secretary within the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet, Northern Isles MP, Alistair Carmichael, has stressed that his first priority is the needs of his constituency.

He said: “I am delighted with this promotion to the Transport portfolio. It is an extremely important portfolio and a crucial policy area for the party.  

Orkney farmers were celebrating on Wednesday after the long-awaited announcement that the EU has lifted the ten-year ban on UK beef exports brought about by the BSE crisis.

Agreement among European Union countries to allow the export trade to resume was finally hammered out at crucial meeting at the European Commission. It is now estimated that Scotch beef could be back on sale in Europe before the end of April.

Stewart Wood, chairman of the Orkney branch of NFU Scotland said that although it has been a while coming, the announcement would give the local industry a lift.

The future of Women's Aid Orkney looks more secure after a Scottish Executive cash boost of just over £56,000 for the next two years.

The allocation of funding ­ £26,370 in 2006-2007 and £27,960 in 2007-2008 ­ is for services to tackle violence against women, and was announced by the Communities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, on Wednesday - International Women¹s Day.

Last year, the Executive revealed the new £6 million "Violence Against Women" fund, which was to run from April, 2006, and support projects delivering services across Scotland and developing ways to provide better responses to violence against women.

After winning the regional section, an Orkney renewable energy firm has gone through to win a national environmental award.

Scotrenewables, based in Stromness and run by Barry Johnston, previously won the regional section of the Shell Springboard competition.

A major air and sea search took was launched in Hoy Sound on Monday night after the sighting of four red flares.

The Coastguard helicopter from Shetland, along with the Stromness lifeboat, numerous fishing boats and Navy vessels, who were in the area on a military exercise, searched the sea, while the Stromness Coastguard team covered the surrounding coastline.

A thorough search of the area, covering approximately 200 square miles around the Kame of Hoy, revealed nothing and the search was called off shortly before 2am this morning.

To mark national No Smoking Day, a special open event was held at the Health Information Centre in Kirkwall on Wednesday.

Information on stopping smoking, what help was available, free self-help packs and face-to-face consultations were offer at the Victoria Street offices.

Anyone wanting help to kick the habit, can contact the centre at any time on 870690.

From March 26, Orkney's pubs, cafes, restaurants and work-places will be smoke-free zones when the Scottish Executives ban on smoking comes into place.

The county began returning to normal on Tuesday, after the widespread chaos brought about by drifting snow on Monday.

Although some minor roads remained blocked, the main roads are passable with most Orkney's schools reopening after being closed for four days.

Just over 100 customers were left without power on Stronsay in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The on-island engineer had to battle his way through the snow to reach the affected pole and shut it down, leading to a two-hour break in supply.

A spokesman for Scottish and Southern Energy said most people would have been unaware of the failure as it occurred at 5am.

However, all other supplies throughout Orkney have held up well despite the wintry conditions, with no other reported problems throughout the islands.

A man was taken to Kirkwall’s Balfour Hospital at the weekend following a fire in his home.

Two appliances from Kirkwall Fire Station attended the house in Quoybanks Crescent just before 1am on Saturday. It is understood fire damage was contained to the living room, although the rest of the property suffered some smoke damage.

A fire spokesman from Inverness said: “Damaged was caused to the phone, coffee table and some books. We used one hose reel jet and two breathing apparatus.”

It is not thought that the elderly man was badly hurt.

Shannon, Holm, on Monday morning. Picture: Jack Gray.

With Orkney blanketed under snow during the current cold-snap, visitors to our website responded in their droves to our request for winter wonderland pictures.

Well over 150 pictures have been received - a number of which we have posted on the site.

Given the huge response, we'll also be running a special feature in this week’s The Orcadian.

Unfortunately, that means we’ve no room for any more photos - but a big thank-you to everyone for taking the time to send them in.

Click here to view a selection of our readers' pictures

The weather consitions on Monday prompted police to advise motorists to stay at home.

Speaking on Monday morning, Kirkwall Sergeant Gordon Deans said: "The problems faced this morning are with people venturing out, getting stuck and blocking the roads for the snowploughs.

On Monday, for a fourth day, Orkney's schools were affected, with all schools, except Flotta remaining closed.

The Orkney Wine Company will travel to Glasgow later this month to attend the Country Living magazine Spring Fair Scotland.

The event, running from March 23 to 26, at the SECC in Glasgow, brings together wines, gins, liqueurs and whiskies from across the world.

Orkney Wine Company, the UK’s most northerly winery, is run by Emile and Marjolein van Schayk, who launched the business in 2002, and their diverse range of wines will be on show along with others from around the globe.

A new exhibition opened on Saturday at the Orkney Museum, in Kirkwall. Entitled Figures of Fun it features paintings by local artist, Robin Bownass.

Better known for his portraits, this exhibition shows a different and darker side of Robin’s art, including huge works which explore the subconscious.

The paintings have all been made over the last five years and the smaller works are all done directly from observation – sometime as studies towards the large scale works

The exhibition runs until March 25.